Bedlam has long been a byword for chaos. Now a major exhibition at Wellcome Collection will open the doors to the historic asylum from which it derives.

Through the lens of the Bethlem Royal Hospital, London, ‘Bedlam: the asylum and beyond’ will explore how the experience of mental illness and notions of madness have been shaped over centuries, and imagine what the future might hold.

‘Bedlam’ will trace the rise and fall of the asylum and how it has reflected the changing attitudes of the society around it, from the early days of the Bethlem Hospital to the modern, post-asylum world in which prescription medications coexist with an increasing array of other therapies and support options. Visitors will encounter scenes from successive incarnations of Bethlem, as well as other models of care from elsewhere in the UK and Europe, revealing how each was founded in an optimistic spirit of humanitarian reform, but abandoned as therapies failed and ideas changed.

Emphasising the lived experiences of individuals, the exhibition will feature over 150 objects and archival materials, including patient art from Adolf Wölfli, Vaslav Nijinsky and Richard Dadd, alongside works by contemporary artists, including Eva Kot’átková, Shana Moulton, Javier Tellez and the ‘Madlove: A Designer Asylum’ project. A new digital commission for the exhibition by Erica Scourti, Empathy Deck, will use an online mood monitor to generate unique tarot cards, each one offering a healing approach, remedy or thought.